October 2012

October 30, 2012

No shocker here: Adrian Beltre was named as the 2012 winner of the American League Gold Glove Award on Tuesday night.

The Rangers' third baseman was recognized for the fourth time in his career and for the second straight season. He was the only Rangers winner, as finalists Elvis Andrus and David Murphy missed out at shortstop and left field.

Beltre had to battle through a series of injuries to his quadriceps, shoulder and intestines to extend his defensive excellence.

"They’re all special," Beltre said. "There’s no doubt this one was more tough because I went through more physical challenges. I’m just happy to be recognized for this nice award."

Beltre said that the scar tissue that started to rub against his intestines late in the season is feeling better, and surgery is not planned. He didn't mention the health of his shoulder.

But he did say that he was surprised that Andrus didn't win the award this year. Beltre, though, said that Andrus will be honored "sooner than later."

As for rating his own abilities, Beltre said he is only average or a little above average.

"I love playing my position," he said. "I want to make every play I can. There are some plays maybe I should give up a little bit, but just the way I am I want to make every play I can.

"I don't see myself as that good. I just want to help my team win and help my teammates."

Among the $12 million in renovations being done to Rangers Ballpark this off-season is a redesign of the main concourse and the former Cuervo Club that could have an effect on the jet stream to right field that allegedly adds home runs on windy nights.

Upon entering the stadium through the home-plate gates, fans will be able to see the playing field as the concession stands below the now-Capital One Club and the club entrance will essentially be cleared out. The entrance will move toward third base, near the suite elevators, and the concession stands will be open on both sides to create more air flow and a view of the field.

The Rangers have not conducted any studies on the effects on batted balls to right field and right-center field with the Ballpark now closer to its original configuration behind home plate. Rangers Ballpark has always been a hitter's park, with wind from the south hitting the seating bowl, swirling back out and carrying flyballs with it. But since the club area was added in 2000, the effect has been more pronouced.

"We haven't gone back and done a wind study on this, but we do feel like this will help with air circulation," said Rob Matwick, the executive vice president for ballpark and event operations. "Whether or not that impacts play, I don't know. But, then again, I don't know if it's impacted play. We'll wait and see how it plays."

In a move that comes as a shock to no one, the Rangers declined the $9.25 million option on right-hander Scott Feldman and will pay him a $600,000 buyout that makes him a free agent. Feldman will likely seek a spot as a starter with another team after being moved from the bullpen to the rotation several times in 2012.

The Rangers also declined the option on righty Yoshinori Tateyama, reinstated righty Neftali Feliz from the 60-day disabled list, and purchased the Triple A contract of righty Justin Miller.

Feliz won't be available until next summer after having Tommy John surgery in August, and he will return as a reliever after spending the first seven weeks of 2012 as a starter. Miller didn't pitch in 2012 after having Tommy John surgery in April. He was the Rangers' Minor League Reliever of the Year in 2011.

October 19, 2012

The Rangers have made their first move of the off-season, dismissing hitting coach Scott Coolbaugh and replacing him with former Boston hitting coach Dave Magadan.

A source said earlier in the week that hitting coach was likely the only spot on manager Ron Washington's staff that could change before the 2013 season.

The move comes two weeks after the Rangers' season came to an end after a wild-card loss to Baltimore. The Rangers scored the most runs (808) in baseball and had the second-highest batting average (.273), but they slumped at the end of the season and also suffered lapses in execution during multiple stretches of the season. Some players stayed in prolonged slumps, and others suffered some of the worst seasons of their careers.

Magadan, meanwhile, jumps off a sinking ship that already claimed Bobby Valentine as Boston manager and saw three key players dealt to the Dodgers in August. Magadan had been with Boston since 2007, winning the World Series that season. The Red Sox amassed the most doubles and extra-base hits in the majors during his six-year run and were second in runs.

Winter ball is underway, and the Texas Rangers have a handful of players participating and more expected to join over the next few weeks. Mike Olt and Leonys Martin are playing for Licey in the Dominican Republic, and Jurickson Profar will join them in November.

October 09, 2012

General manager Jon Daniels said the team won’t make Hamilton an offer before the World Series is over, which
will mark the end of their exclusive window to negotiate with Hamilton.

“We’re not going to make a preemptive deal [before Hamilton is a free agent],”
Daniels said. “No door has been closed, but we’re also very realistic when a
star player hits free agency at this point and the history of them returning to
the original club. We’ve got to prepare both ways and prepare the club for the
possibility that he’s not back.”

Hamilton struggled down the
stretch, and made a glaring error when he dropped a routine fly ball in Oakland on the last day of the
regular season. That led to two runs, and the Athletics unseated the Rangers as
the top team in the American League West.

Hamilton
batted .245 in the final month of the season, and missed five games with ocular
keratitis, a drying of the eyes caused by consuming too much caffeine.

“Obviously I think Josh would have liked to finish stronger
and we would have liked to see him finish stronger,” team president and CEO
Nolan Ryan said. “Will it impact our position as far as going forward? No, I
don’t think so. We’ll consider the entire season because it is an entire season
that affects the outcome. [Hamilton’s
camp] will go out and see what the market bears, and we’ll see where we are at
some point in time.”

Here are a few other notes from today’s season-ending news
conference:

* The Rangers have made no decisions as to who will return
to the major league coaching staff. Manager Ron Washington said those decisions
haven’t been made yet. Washington and Jon Daniels said the season’s
disappointing end was on the entire organization.

* Ron Washington said there is no one area he would like to
see the team address this winter. “There’s every area we have to look at,” he
said. “We’ve got to improve in every area.”

* In evaluating himself, Washington said he thought he could have
given his everyday players more rest throughout the season. Seven players
played 147 games or more (Nelson Cruz, Elvis Andrus, Ian Kinsler, Adrian
Beltre, Josh Hamilton, Michael Young and David Murphy), including five with 156
or more (Cruz, Andrus, Kinsler and Beltre). “Maybe I played them into the
ground,” Washington
said. “That’s something I’m going to apply next year and see where it goes.”

* The Rangers are still in the early stages of planning for
2013. Jon Daniels said there have been no decisions made as to whether Alexi
Ogando will be a starter or reliever; on the potential role of Jurickson
Profar; and how the team will address first base this winter.

* Jon Daniels on Michael Young: “Michael filled a valuable
role for us this year. He had the Achilles heel and never complained about it.
As far as a lot of guys' struggles in September, he probably had his best month
in September.” Daniels didn’t speculate as to how Young would be used in 2013.

* Ron Washington on Ian Kinsler’s season: “It’s been pick on
Ian all year. It wasn’t an Ian Kinsler-type year both offensively and
defensively. … He never quit, he never stopped grinding and he never tried to
not get better.”

* Jon Daniels opened the news conference by thanking the
fans for the record attendance numbers this past season. “The No. 1 message is
we want to thank our fans,” Daniels said. “Unbelievable year on a lot of levels
but none more than how they supported us, supported the club. … We’re
disappointed we couldn’t get it done for the fans and community. Bottom line is
it was a very good year with a disappointing finish.”

October 06, 2012

Rangers pitching coach Mike Maddux met with reporters today, and reflected back on the 2012 season.

Here are a few of the highlights:

On the Rangers finish: "When we went out
there, we were in a dogfight the last couple of weeks and you got to tip your
hat to some of those teams that are going on. We still feel we should be there,
but we’re not. That’s the disappointing part of it ... that we’re not. However, we
got a lot of things to look forward to and reflect back on the good year that
we had, a lot of good things happened."

On Yu Darvish's rookie season: "I thought Yu had a very interesting and a very
good campaign. It was a lot of hype [in spring training], and it was a lot
of unknown about it. As the
season progressed and the more Yu acclimated himself or became acclimated with
the major league baseball and being in a different country, I thought he
really, really matured and showed what everybody saw in him when they scouted
him the past couple years in Japan. I thought that he really made everybody
look good, including himself."

On pitching staff being worn out from consecutive World Series runs: "There’s no question that we played more
games than anybody else in baseball the last couple of years, but that’s a
problem you cherish. That’s something you look back when it’s all said and
done and you go, 'Wow. We’re in spring training already. What a quick winter.'"

On Derek Holland's season: "I thought he had a pretty good campaign. Sometimes really, really good
and then there were those quick exits. I think that made him hungrier to go
out and prove that was a fluke and he did that. In time, Derek is going to be more consistent and our peaks
and valleys are going to become more of a flat line. Not too high, not too down,
just pretty steady."

On Alexi Ogando's future as a starter or reliever: "We’ll probably meet here shortly as an
organization, as a staff, and decide which fork in the road we’re going to take. That’s going to impact some of our personnel and what will their role
be -- start, stop, setup. That’s where the business side
of the game comes in."

On whether managing is in his future: "I’m happy as the Rangers pitching coach. I think this season is more about the Rangers and what the players did than
about me. I think we got a lot of things to look forward to next year, that’s
for darn sure."

Mike Adams would like to return to the Texas Rangers, but the right-handed setup man is taking a business approach to his free agency.

Adams, 34, is looking to get compensated among the top relievers in the game, something which he feels he deserves.

"I'd like to be back here if it's the right deal and it's the best deal," Adams said. "This is a business and that's No. 1. You have ties to places and you like certain places more than others, but when it comes down to it, this is a business.

"It's my first opportunity and might be my last opportunity at a free agent deal. I'm going to take a look at everything that's out there."

The Rangers, under general manager Jon Daniels, have tended to stay away from multi-year deals for relievers. In fact, Daniels gave his first multi-year, relief deal to closer Joe Nathan last off-season.

Adams is well aware of that, and knows that could factor into whether he returns or not.

"I see the way they work, the way they go about how they sign people," Adams said. "I know we have pretty good depth in pitching in the minor leagues here, but it's always good to have a few veteran guys who have been trhough it."

Adams didn't have his best season, posting a 3.27 ERA in 61 games. He wasn't an option the final week of the season, either, as he dealt with a mild cervical strain and symptoms of thoracic outlet syndrome. Adams said he would have surgery this off-season on the thoracic outlet syndrome, and expects to be 100 percent by spring training.

Adams believes those injuries are why he didn't put up the numbers he has in the past. It also might explain why his velocity dropped this season, according to fangraphs.com.

Five-time All-Star Josh Hamilton said that he wants to stay with the Rangers after what could be his final game in a Rangers uniform. He went 0-for-4 and struck out twice, and was booed after his final at-bat in the eighth inning.

Hamilton, who becomes a free agent five days after the end of the World Series, said that the Rangers will get the first chance to negotiate with him and will get to match an offer before he accepts it. He said the chances that he will be back are 50-50.

"I would love to stay here," he said after the Rangers' 5-1 loss to Baltimore in the wild-card game. "They know that and understand that. I told them I'd give them the first shot. We'll see what happens. I loved the last five years playing with these guys."

Hamilton was booed more and more after each at-bat. He grounded into a double play in the first inning after the Rangers opened with runners at first and third. He struck out looking in the third, tapped back to the mound in the sixth and struck out in the eighth. He saw eight pitches.

"You hate to have it happen in possibly your last game ever here, but I gave my all every time I went out there," Hamilton said. "Hopefully, they appreciated it more than they did [tonight]."

He said the thought of possibly having his final at-bat ran through his mind in the eighth inning, but he hasn't had much of an opportunity to think about what might happens.

"I haven't thought too much about it because it ended so abruptly," he said. "It's one of those things where you go home, spend some time with the family, figure out what's going on and enjoy them right now and not think about what's going to transpire later on."